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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference in Istanbul, April 16, 2017.(photo byREUTERS/Murad Sezerm)

Author:Ali Bayramoglu Posted May 4, 2017

On a flight back from India this week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the West for criticizing Turkeys state of emergency, in place since the botched coup attempt in July 2016. Speaking to journalists accompanying him on the trip, he said, The West, which fails to see the state of emergency in France, is attempting to criticize a process that we are carrying out in tranquility. What has the state of emergency in Turkey done? Has it taken away anything from [businesspeople]? Has it affected businesses? He argued that without the state of emergency, the authorities would have failed to have struggled as well as they have against the Kurdistan WorkersParty (PKK) and followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara calls the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organization (FETO) and holds responsible for the coup attempt.

Given the suspension of basic rights and freedoms, associating the state of emergency with social peace is simply ironic, not to mention that Ankara is flouting even the constitutional limits for the use of emergency-rule powers. For Turkish citizens of a certain age, todays atmosphere evokes the scary climate of the military rule after the 1980 coup, when the campaign of suppression was called a tranquility operation.

Erdogan may claim the state of emergency is conducted in peace, and even without harming anyone, but the toll is out thereas plain as day. On April 2, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu offered the following summary of the crackdown on Gulenistsor dissidents accused of being such: So far, 113,260 people have been detained in connection with FETO. The number of those who remain arrested today is 47,155, which is a significant number. There are 41,499 peoplewho have been released on the condition of judicial control, while 23,861 others have been freed (without any further action). Those arrested include 10,732 police officers, 7,463 soldiers, including 168 generals, 2,575 judges and prosecutors, 26,177 civilians and 208 administrative chiefs.

This, however, is only a partial picture that omits the toll of the crackdown on the Kurds. The state of emergency has seen the detention of some 9,000 members of the Kurdish-dominated Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), about 3,000 of whom remain behind bars. Eleven HDP lawmakers, including both of the partys co-chairs, are also in jail. The HDPs sister party, the Democratic Regions Party, which runs 103 local administrations in the mainly Kurdish southeast, has seen 84 of those municipalities handed over to government-appointed trustees and 89 of its co-mayors arrested.

Scores of academics who had signed declarations criticizing Ankaras Kurdish policies have been expelled from universities across the country, while the number of gagged newspapers, magazines and internet sites is beyond counting.

So one thing is obvious: Those punished through emergency-rule instruments are not armed terrorist groups, as Erdogan claims, but members of civic society and political parties. In other words, the measures have targeted legitimate representative and civic structures, bypassing democracy and the law.

There is no doubt now that this chilling policy is a systematic one. Erdogan and the government got what they wanted from the April 16 referendum, and have shown no intention of softening or moderation in its aftermath. This is clearly manifested in the new waves of detentions and suspensions that have followed the vote.

On April 26, the authorities issued detention orders for 3,224 alleged Gulenists. Two days later, 9,000 police officers were suspended from duty on the same grounds. On May 2, the government issued two legislative decrees to expel some 4,000 public employees, including 1,000 military officers and 485 academics, bringing the total to more than 102,000 expulsions since the state of emergency took effect.

The moves indicate that the government sees its narrow victory in the referendum as a vote of confidence for its authoritarian policies. This, in turn, represents the first convergence between the existing authoritarian practices and the aspired populist institutionalization.

One cannot help but wonder whether the governments war on the Gulen community is a bottomless pit, a saga that will never end. The situation has come to resemble a two-way authoritarian trap. If the presence of Gulenists in the state is a threat to the rule of law, the ferocious and often arbitrary measures against them have become another.

No one can really tell where the truth lies exactly. If the Gulenists have really entrenched themselves to an extent that justifies this massive toll, Turkey does face a predicament that will be difficult to overcome. Alternately, if the Gulenists power is exaggerated and the governments actions stem from a mix of concern, suspicion and a desire to consolidate power, Turkey faces an equally lasting problem. In either case, the blows to democracy are bound to produce the same outcome: perpetual suspicion, perpetual purges and therefore perpetual disregard of the law. The experience thus far shows that each new suspicion triggers a fresh wave of detentions and expulsions. This is so much so that some public servants, recruited to replace expelled Gulenists, have themselves faced suspension after a while.

Another alarming problem is that this atmosphere has spawned a self-spinning cogwheel that can function without political push. The onslaught on suspected Gulenists and PKK supporters has rested on tip-offs, assumptions and guesses rather than evidence and corroborated suspicion, creating a logic and a mentality of its own. All members of the state apparatus prosecutors, judges, public functionaries and the bureaucrats drawing up the expulsion lists are acting under the influence or the pressure of this atmosphere, sometimes as its executioners and sometimes as its victims. The banality of evil Hannah Arendts famous concept on the normalization of human wickedness is springing to life in Turkey, nourishing authoritarianism from inside the system.

This is also the reason for Turkeys growing introversion and international alienation. The April 25 decision of the Council of Europes Parliamentary Assembly to put Turkey on its watch list was precisely because of the rights violations and arbitrary rule that the state of emergency has produced. The definition of freedom that Erdogan made earlier this year is perhaps the best illustration of the icy rift between Turkey and the West today. Referring to big infrastructure projects by his government, Erdogan said, Hey West! Freedom is not [what you advocate]. Freedom goes through the Marmaray Tunnel. Freedom goes through the Eurasia Tunnel. Freedom goes through the Osmangazi Bridge.

Read More: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/05/turkey-referendum-emboldened-new-purges-bans.html

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No end in sight for Erdogan's purges after referendum - Al-Monitor

CNSNews.com (blog)

Greek Orthodox Bishop Calls on Turkey's Erdogan to Convert or Face 'Unending Hell' With Muhammed CNSNews.com (blog) The Greek Orthodox bishop, Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, sent a lengthy letter to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he detailed some of the differences between Christianity and Islam and called on Erdogan to convert to Orthodoxy or ...

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Greek Orthodox Bishop Calls on Turkey's Erdogan to Convert or Face 'Unending Hell' With Muhammed - CNSNews.com (blog)

A senior aide to Turkish President Erdogan has stated that US forces in Syria could be accidentally hit by Turkish rockets alongside Kurdish militants, stating that Ankara won't hold back a strike against PKK militia just because US troops are present.

It doesnt matter whether they [US troops] are patrolling there. If those PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] terrorists continue their activities within Turkey...you know they are infiltrating from northern Syria [into Turkey]... Ilnur Cevik, a senior political adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told Turkish radio station CRI TURK on Wednesday.

...If they go a little further then our forces [wouldn't care whether] there are American armors there...suddenly you happen to see there are a few missiles [that] hit them accidentally too, he continued.

READ MORE:Ankara notified US weeks before airstrikes on Kurdish-held areas in Syria & Iraq Turkish FM

Cevik's statements came after US troops were deployed to the Syrian border to prevent clashes between Turkish and Kurdish forces, after Turkish airstrikes hit two Kurdish-held areas in Syria and Iraq last month.

However, Cevik appeared to make a U-turn on Twitter on Wednesday, stating that Turkey has never and will never hit its allies anywhere and that includes the US in Syria.

He stated that Turkey will, however, hit all terrorists in Syria, adding that no one should allow our US allies to become a shield for them.

Cevik then posted a tweet which appeared to be referencing the US and its risk of alienating the Turkish people by cooperating with Ankara's enemies.

Both Turkey and the US have classified the PKK as a terrorist group. However, the two sides disagree on the classification of another Kurdish group, the People's Protection Units (YPG). Although Ankara considers the YPG to be terrorists, the US is cooperating alongside them in the fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

The YPG, and you know whos supporting them, is attacking us with mortars. But we will make those places their grave, there is no stopping, Erdogan said last month, referencing Washington's support, as quoted by AP.

READ MORE:Turkey bombs Kurdish-held areas in Iraq & Syria, says terrorists targeted

Instead of working with Syrian Kurds, who the US believes are the most powerful force against IS in Syria, Turkey is pressing Washington to let its army join its campaign for Raqqa.

Let us, huge America, all these coalition powers and Turkey, let us join hands and turn Raqqa to Daeshs [IS] grave, Erdogan said last month.

Erdogan will travel to Washington later this month to meet with US President Trump on May 16. It will be the first meeting between the leaders of the two NATO countries.

View original post here:
US troops could be 'accidentally' hit in strikes against Kurdish ... - RT

Turkeys president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking stronger ties with the worlds largest democracy, India, at a time when he is at odds with most of the western democratic countries. Most notably, during his two-day visit to India, he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended a special convocation at one of Delhis prestigious universities, Jamia Millia Islamia, where he was conferred with an honorary doctorate.

Before Erdogans arrival in New Delhi, some of his surrogates were already in the town speaking at different events about how India and Turkey as two great democracies can and should forge a mutually beneficial relationship. The idea is good at its face value. But there are serious differences and problems that cast a shadow at any potential alliance between India and Turkey.

First and foremost, no matter how hard Erdogan and his team try to convince Modi that their relationship with India is independent of their relationship with Pakistan, it is not really a fact.

Not only the families of Turkeys president Erdogan and Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif share personal bonds, the state ideology in both these countries is more or less the same.

The once staunchly secular state, Turkey, has now been turned into a system where all political moves of the regime are endorsed by a cohort of financially and morally corrupt religious leaders - which is typically what happens in theocratic countries.

Pakistan, on the other hand, has always been a theocracy. Furthermore, both these states current politics is deeply rooted in political Islam.

In terms of people-to-people connect between India and Turkey, and Pakistan and Turkey, Pakistan outnumbers India with a huge margin. Not to suggest that the friendship between Turkish and Pakistani people is a threat to India, but the fact that not many Indian and Turkish people know each other leads to a situation where stereotyping and having prejudice about one another is rampant.

In Turkey, where all Pakistanis would be treated as brothers, most Indians would usually be mocked as cow-worshippers.

Despite Erdogans preposterous claim that under his leadership Turkeys democracy has strengthened over the years, it can hardly be denied that it is under unprecedented crisis. Photo: Reuters

This doesnt mean that the Turkish people are detestable - on the contrary, they are very hospitable and kind. But due to little people-to-people connect, they are hardly aware of Indias diversity and plurality.

Given the strong personal bonds between the leaders, deep-rooted ideological similarity between the states and the people-to-people connect, Pakistans leverage over Turkey is far more than that of Indias.

In such a situation, Turkeys relationship with India cannot be independent of its ties to Pakistan - and therefore expecting Turkey not to side with Pakistan on issues where there is a dispute between India and Pakistan would be nave.

The Kashmir issue and Indias desired membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) are the two most obvious issues where Turkey stands firmly behind Pakistan.

Not long ago, Turkeys foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his government fully supports Pakistans position on Jammu and Kashmir, and he also backed Islamabads demand to send an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) delegation to the Kashmir Valley to investigate the alleged human rights violations there.

On Indias bid to become a member of the NSG, Turkey opposed India last year because Pakistans application was not being considered.

Secondly, despite Erdogans preposterous claim that under his leadership Turkeys democracy has strengthened over the years, it can hardly be denied that it is under unprecedented crisis. With the recently concluded constitutional referendum - which Erdogan won controversially - the country is closer to one-man rule.

In the aftermath of the attempted coup of July 15, 2016, at least 1,34,194 officials, teachers, bureaucrats and academics have been sacked from state institutions; 1,00,155 people have been detained; 2,099 educational institutions have been shut down; 7,317 academics have lost their jobs; and 4,317 judges and prosecutors have been dismissed. By all standards, it is a crackdown of an alarming proportion.

Indian democracy, with all its flaws, fares much better than the Turkish democracy. India is slowly asserting itself on the global stage as a country which takes pride in its democracy, demography and demand.

If India really wants to become a significant global player in the democratic world, it must not ignore the gross human rights violations going on in countries like Turkey - particularly because the scale at which rights violations have taken place there, many Indians have also been badly affected.

A number of Indian students who were studying in some of the 15 universities that have been shut down in the wake of the coup attempt had to return home without completing their education. Some Indian academics who were employed at these universities became jobless and their bank accounts were blocked by the Turkish authorities for months.

Its no surprise that due to such serious problems with fundamental rights in his country, Erdogan is at odds with the western democratic countries. As he tries to discover new friends in India, the Indian leadership should note that neither his ties with Pakistan will let him become a true friend of India nor is it in Indias larger interest to befriend an internationally isolated authoritarian leader.

Also read:Hard-hitting questions Indian media must ask Erdogan when he meets Modi

Originally posted here:
Why Turkeys president Erdogan is no friend of India - DailyO

Ozay Mehmet

Ugurs frustration with president Recep T. Erdoan (RTE)is understandable, not his interpretation of the Turkish referendum or especially his call for a formal suspension of the EU accession talks. Ugur is kicking a dead-horse. These talks are effectively suspended anyway, and RTE is a grievously wounded politician. He may not last long.

In the meantime, the better advice for the EU response would be cool patience, and democratic choice. Stay the course and diligently support democratic moves in the country. CHP is challenging his legitimacy, now taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Lets see what the Court will decide.

Even more ominously, a revolt is gathering strength within the AKP. The party lost as much as 10 percentage points in the referendum with traditional AKP voters. Erdogans latest gambit is to take direct control of the party. He ordered an extraordinary general assembly for 21 May 2017.

RTE is now an angry politician. He is furious for having lost big cities like Istanbul and Ankara. He is aiming to punish those inside the party for these losses, but the political dyke is bursting. This time he may not prevent a collapse. His imminent cabinet shuffle is likely to lead to further fragmentation within ranks, and there is talk of Abdullah Gul, the former (and highly respected) president and others forming a new party.

In the next presidential elections, set for 2019, or possibly earlier, RTE could well be defeated, if confronted by a credible runner. In any event, there is widespread disapproval of the one-man rule in Turkey. The war against PKK is raging with no end in sight. In the referendum, it cost RTE the Kurdish vote. His Syrian adventure remains unclear and his relations with the USA and Russia are increasingly vague.

Turkish economy has slowed down and inflation is now nearing double-digits. Tourism is almost 20% down. Unemployment is rising. Erdoans key economic advisors are marginalized, and may be axed. The pro-EU Ali Babacan sits on the side-lines.For the EU to now take Ugurs advice and declare unilateral suspension, or worse, termination of accession talks, would be overkill. No need for such irrational behavior. Better to wait and watch Turkish events for the next few weeks and months.

The referendum exposed RTEs vulnerability and may yet be his undoing. Sincere democratic voices in Europe must diligently work reinforcing pro-democracy movements inside Turkey. It is not too late to save Turkish democracy. In the past, the EU helped countries escape fascism or communism. It makes good sense to do it now in the Turkish case. For its own energy security and refugee crisis management this is, surely, the wiser course.

Ozay Mehmet, Ph.D (Toronto), Senior Fellow, Modern Turkish Studies, Distinguished Research Professor, International Affairs (Emeritus) at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

Originally posted here:
Erdogan On Borrowed Time - Social Europe